This invention relates generally to unit counters and more particularly to an improved unit counter capable of counting either pills, capsules or the like, and storing excessive pills or capsules above a desired count.
It is a well known mathematical principle that the area of an equilateral triangle is related to the length of one of its sides. Based upon this relationship, there is provided in the prior art a pill counter as is described in U.S. Pat. No. 2,952,369. The pill counter described includes a bottom tray with upstanding sides interconnected to form a 60.degree. angle therebetween. A triangle of pills can be nested into the corner angle. Two rows of indicia are located remote from the corner. The integers of the first row represent the number of pills in one side of the triangle of pills and the corresponding integer in the next row of indicia represents the total number of pills which are contained in the triangle. The inter-relationship between the two rows of indicia is based on the well known mathematical relationship.
While the aforementioned pill counter is useful, it has many drawbacks which have prevented it from becoming a widely accepted tool. One of the main drawbacks is that the counter is only adapted to accommodate round pills. However, in present pharmacology, oblong capsules are utilized almost as freqently as round pills and they too must be counted.
The use of the prior art pill counter is such that a plurality of pills are placed in the tray and then, based upon the number of pills along one side of a triangle, the total number of pills are counted. As described in the aforementioned patent, the pill counter can be utilized to count such total number of pills. For example, at the end of a day it is frequently necessary to count the total number of pills remaining. All of these pills may be placed in the pill counter and counted.
However, frequently rather than counting all of the pills which are available, it is necessary to count only a predetermined number of pills, as for example when filling a prescription. In such use, a large number of pills are placed in the pill counter and only a small number of those are to be placed in a bottle to fill a prescription. The remaining pills must be restored. Using the pill counter of the aforementioned patent, it is not possible to easily separate a desired number of pills from a total amount of available pills.
An additional problem with the prior art pill counter is that the relationship between the total number of pills in the triangle and the number along one side does not provide the usually desired or conventional numbers for counting. For example, the relationship is such as to give very unusual numbers in a total triangle of pills, such as 21, 28, 66, 78, 91, etc. While these numbers may be convenient for counting the total number of pills, when trying to fill a prescription, it is generally required to provide an even amount of pills, generally in multiples of tens and hundreds. Using the pill counter of the prior art it is most difficult to obtain a pill count in multiples of ten, and, even if such were obtained, it becomes difficult to separate the surplus from the desired count.